


Everything Is Awful But, Hey, You're Still Around

by Definitely_Lost



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Loki lives, Brotherly Love, Infinity War, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, The Guardians now have to put up with both of these chaotic energies, Thor (Marvel) is Not Stupid, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Thor Has Lightning Powers, infinity war fix-it, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27428470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Definitely_Lost/pseuds/Definitely_Lost
Summary: After Thanos destroys the Ark and half the Odinsons' people, the Brothers join forces with some galactic morons to stop the angry grape and save everyone, because that's what heroes do.--An Infinity War re-write of how the movie would have gone if Loki had been given enough brain cells to survive the first ten minutes. Basically, all the parts of the movie Thor was in, except now Loki is here too.
Relationships: Loki & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Steve Rogers & Thor, Thor & Guardians Of The Galaxy Team
Comments: 35
Kudos: 211





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, as I'm sure many of you understand, we were unjustly robbed in Infinity War when Loki was only there for, what, nine minutes? Well, I was unsatisfied with that, so like any sane person I'm fixing it all with fanfiction. On top of that, I have also fixed the plot hole where Thor mysteriously lost his lightning powers, so he has those in this fic too. Enjoy.

The wreckage of the ruined Ark was strewn about the room, bodies cushioning the falling sheets of metal. Sparks flew from severed wires. Anything that wasn’t disfigured beyond recognition was on fire. It was chaos. 

A voice rang through the broken ship. “Hear me, and rejoice.” The one who spoke stepped carefully around the victims of the massacre, ignoring the twitching and heavy breathing still coming from a few survivors. “You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan. You may think this is suffering, but no. It is salvation. The universal scales are tipped towards balance because of your sacrifice.” 

The dark figures surveyed the slaughter, brutally stabbing any living things they could find. “For even in death, you have become children of Thanos.”

There he stood, in the center of it all. Loki took a deep breath, determined to keep his features steeled to indifference. Why had he been spared from the blades of the enemy? He had a pretty good idea, and he was determined to resist at any cost. 

He turned his attention back to the large, bulky silhouette standing by the bridge of the Ark. He was burdened with heavy golden armor, but the weight hardly bothered him as he leaned down to clutch the quivering shape of Loki’s brother on the ground and hook his fingers under his armor. He lifted Thor from the ground, ignoring the grunts of pain from the defeated Asgardian. “I know what it’s like to lose,” Thanos said. “To feel so desperately that you’re right, yet to fail nonetheless. It’s frightening. Turns the legs to jelly.” He turned his attention to Loki, who, despite himself, felt his blood run cold. “I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same.” 

Loki didn’t need to look around to know that he was surrounded. The Black Order stood behind him and to his sides, weapons poised and eager to strike him down. He would need to tread carefully. 

“And now, it’s here.” Thanos stopped to stand right in front of Loki, raising his gauntlet to close his fist in the air in a dramatic show of power. The infinity stone glowed an angry purple. “Or should I say… I am.” 

Thor, bless him, found the strength to open his eyes and speak. “You talk too much,” he said wisely. 

Loki broke eye contact with Thanos for a minute to give his brother a stern look. 

“The Tesseract,” Thanos demanded, unaffected. “Or, your brother’s head.” He lowered his fist to Thor’s temple. The Power Stone hummed as it came closer and closer to his skin. Thor jerked, trying to pull away, but Thanos’ hold on his head was strong. “I assume you have a preference.” 

“Oh, I do,” Loki said, trying to wear fake bravery on his face. He hoped his eyes didn’t give him away. “Kill away.” 

Thanos moved his hand an inch closer to Thor’s head, but the effect was immediate. Purple veins spread over his skin and the only thing louder than the crackling of energy were Thor’s bloody screams, though he tried to hold them back. They got louder and louder. Only seconds in, blood was dripping from his lips and clogging his throat, giving his howls a watery effect. 

“Alright, stop!” Loki cried finally. He couldn’t take the sounds any longer. Even when they subsided, he could hear them echoing in his skull. 

“We don’t have the Tesseract,” Thor spat weakly as soon as Thanos lowered his fist. “It was destroyed on Asgard.” 

Loki winced, realizing that he hadn’t actually told Thor like he’d intended to eventually. He hoped his brother wouldn’t see it as yet another betrayal. 

Loki raised his arm and held out his hand. The Tesseract materialized in his fingers, resting lightly and glowing innocently like a beacon in the darkness of the ruined ship. 

Thanos’ eyes widened at the cube. Thor breathed, “You really are the worst brother.” 

Loki took a few steps forward. “I assure you, brother,” he said smoothly, keeping the trembling out of his voice, “The sun will shine on us again.” 

Thanos chuckled softly. “Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian.” He reached forward to take the cube. 

“Well, for one thing,” Loki replied, “I’m not Asgardian.” His eyes darted behind Thanos for the briefest of seconds. “And for another… we have a Hulk.” 

A roar resounded in the chamber as the Hulk barreled out of the shadows and tackled Thanos into a corner. Loki dropped the cube and tucked himself into a flip, grabbing Thor’s shoulders and rolling them both to safety. 

While Hulk and Thanos continued to brawl, Thor gripped Loki’s wrist and looked into his eyes. “Brother,” he said weakly. 

“I’m sorry,” Loki whispered. “I know I shouldn’t have taken the cube, but it was right there and-” 

“It’s fine,” Thor said offhandedly. “I had the feeling you would take it.” 

Loki blinked, taken aback for once. Had his brother actually understood him? Was this real? He wasn’t hitting Loki over the head for betraying him? 

“You have to do something,” Thor said. “Thanos has the Power Stone. Hulk and I can’t take him on our own. Brother, you are the most powerful one on this ship right now. Please do something. I trust you.” 

Loki took a moment to process Thor’s words. Praise? It was new. Thor had complimented him before, but never this genuinely nor this grandly. And trust? He had accepted it was something he would never achieve with anyone. 

But then, Thor had always been different. No matter how many times Loki betrayed him, and no matter how hurt Thor had been, he had always forgiven him. He had always offered Loki a second chance, then a third chance, then a fourth. 

Loki pat Thor on the back and stood up. “I’ll think of something, I’m sure,” he said. He took a few slow steps away, then bolted into the shadows and was gone from sight. 

Thor watched his brother go, and turned back to the fight. Hulk was already bleeding from the mouth and nose, and he was thrown to the ground finally. Thor found his footing and charged Thanos, whacking him in the back with a shaft of Ark debris. To his dismay, the rod bent and fell, and Thanos was left standing tall. The titan kicked Thor backwards, sending him flying across the room. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, metal sheets and plating began to rise and clamp themselves around his arms, legs, chest. He fought for a short time, but realized quickly it was futile. Heimdall, who was draped elegantly yet tragically over the floor, met his eye before raising his hand and sword. “All-Fathers,” he whispered, “Let the dark magic flow through me one last time…” 

The Bifrost cut its way through the ship and picked the Hulk up, hopefully teleporting him somewhere to heal and gather reinforcements. It happened so fast, no one reacted until the ship was silent again but for the crackling of the fire. 

Thanos strode over to the dying Asgardian, Corvus Glaive’s spear in hand. “That was a mistake,” he said calmly. Heimdall looked at Thor. Fear and realization was written on his face, yet resignation was there also. He knew what he had signed up for the moment he had raised his sword. Thanos raised his weapon before driving it down into the center of Heimdall’s chest. 

Heimdall merely grunted, while Thor yelled “ _No!_ ” as if he was the one who had been stabbed. As the light faded from his friend’s eyes, he gasped through tears “You’re doing to _die_ for that!” 

More metal flew through the air and wrapped itself over his mouth, trapping the rest of the threats he would have dished out. Ebony Maw put a finger to his lips, hushing him, before grabbing the discarded Tesseract off the ground and bowing before Thanos. 

“My humble personage bows before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one but two infinity stones.” Thanos shed his armor as the Maw spoke, reaching forwards for the cube. He wrapped his fat fingers around it and examined it. “The universe lies within your grasp,” the Maw continued. 

Thanos squeezed. Cracks made their way along the crystal shell and the glow got brighter and brighter until the cube finally shattered in a burst of blue. There, in the dust and broken pieces, lay the infinity stone. Thanos held it in his fingers and placed it carefully in place in his gauntlet, grunting through the rush of new power. “There are two more stones on Earth,” he said finally. “Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan.” 

“Father, we will not fail you,” Proxima Midnight declared, bowing. 

“If I might interject,” cut a familiar voice from behind the group, “If you’re going to Earth, you might want a guide.” Loki stepped from the shadows of the debris, spreading his arms in welcome. He then gestured to himself rather smugly. “I do have a bit of experience in that arena.” 

Thanos gave him a skeptical look. “If you consider failure experience.” 

“I consider _experience_ experience,” Loki replied dryly. He took a deep breath and put his rebellious side away for the time being. “Almighty Thanos, I, Loki…” 

He began to step forward, past the rest of the Black Order, as he continued to speak. “Prince of Asgard…” He paused momentarily to throw a glance at Thor. His older brother looked at him with question in his eyes. “Odinson,” Loki said. “The rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief…” 

Thor tried to speak past his muzzle, to tell Loki to shut up and grab the stone and run away before he got hurt. He trusted that his brother had a plan, but when he saw the tiny, puny, meek knife appear in Loki’s hand, he thought, _No. This can’t be your plan. This is a horrible plan. You have shapeshifting, illusions, and much more up your sleeve. This can’t be the best you can come up with._

“… do hereby pledge to you…” Loki continued, stepping closer. “My undying fidelity.” He looked down, as if trying to find the bravery to act. Thor could see some amount of hesitation in his eyes, and he tried to say something. To say anything. _It’s okay. If you can’t do anything it’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked this of you. You can still make it out of here alive._ But Loki made up his mind. 

He thrust upwards with the dagger, making a beeline for Thanos’ jaw. However, a blue force blocked his knife and held him by the wrist, pulsing with energy he couldn’t overcome. Frozen in place, Thor could only watch as Thanos swatted the knife out of Loki’s hand and sent it skittering across the floor. “Undying,” the titan mused. “You should choose your words more carefully.”

A gloved hand made its way from Thanos’ side to grip Loki’s neck. The joints cracked as Thanos lifted, Loki being dragged into the air, thrashing like a fish caught on a line. His breathy pants sounded throughout the room, sounding desperate and weak. 

_That’s not my brother,_ Thor thought hopelessly. _That can’t be him. This can’t be happening._

Loki kicked and fought with what could only be described as pathetic energy in contrast to the might Thanos held over him in that moment. He wrapped his tiny hands around the Gauntlet, a feathers touch compared to the pressure that must have been on his throat. “You… will never be,” he gasped, “… a _god_ …!” 

Thanos’ neutral expression changed into one of resent. He squeezed tighter. A sickening pop and crack came from the bones he held, and Loki’s eyes and mouth bled. Veins popped up around his face which was rapidly purpling from lack of oxygen. When the struggling finally stopped, Thanos relaxed his grip. 

Thor tried. He tried to scream, to lash out. The metal around him began to burn white-hot as the lightning inside him struggled to break free of its constraints and obliterate the titan. A few sparks of electricity even managed to escape and jump onto the floor below where they burned out. But Thanos was unaffected. While the older Odinson hollered and cried and battled his tiny metal prison, Thanos dropped the limp body that was once his brother right in front of him. Loki landed with a crash. “No resurrections this time,” Thanos said confidently. He’d felt the snap of bones. He’d heard the gasping breaths. Loki was dead. _No doubt about it._

Thanos raised his fist and harnessed the power stone. Purple energy pulsed in the air and began to rip what was left of the Ark to shreds, spewing amethyst flames in every direction and pulling the ship apart. A white-orange light enveloped the enemy, and they were gone. 

As soon as they disappeared, the restraints around Thor collapsed. He fell to the ground in agony, his energy expended. However, he managed to crawl forward enough to hug Loki’s body. He grabbed Loki’s shoulders and shook him. “You son of a bitch!” he shouted. “You aren’t dead! After everything you’ve been through, you are _not dead!_ I know that wasn’t your real plan! Tell me what you did!” But Loki did not wake. 

The hull shook. Thor felt the flames around him heat his tears until his skin was so dry he could feel it crack. _This is it_ , he thought. _This is where I die_. He took Loki’s hand in his and clasped it tight. So tight that perhaps even in death they would still be connected. 

And as the Ark exploded in a fiery inferno of violet, the younger Odinson clasped his brother’s hand back. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardians arrive to answer the distress call, but what they find just distresses them. However, there may be more to all these floating bodies than meets the eye.

The ship cut through the vacuum of space, a little pocket of wholesomeness in the vast empty. The Guardians of the Galaxy were perfectly content to jam out to their music and save people for money. They weren’t heroes. They were just… people. Unfortunately for their plans to spend the day gambling (and cheating and scamming, but that wasn’t something they liked to admit) on different planets wherever they would find a place that would let them in, Gamora had a little thing called a heart. So here they were, on their way to answer a distress call instead. 

Peter Quill mouthed along to the words of the song, wiggling to the beat in his loose seatbelt. “Sing it Drax!” he exclaimed happily, not even paying attention to the behemoth sitting underneath him. Drax was actually asleep, passed out like a baby despite the blaring music. Next to him, Gamora swung her head to the beat as well, muttering along, though she’d never admit it. 

Rocket Racoon yawned obnoxiously before asking even more obnoxiously, “So, why are we doing this again?” 

“It’s a distress call, Rocket, someone could be dying,” Gamora explained for what seemed like the hundredth time. 

“I get that, but why are we _doing_ it?” Rocket scratched his ear disinterestedly. 

“Because we’re nice,” offered Quill. He paused and added, “And maybe whoever it is will give us a little _cheddar cheese_ for our effort.” He rubbed his fingers together eagerly. 

“Which isn’t the point,” Gamora reminded him. 

“Which isn’t the point,” Quill insisted. “I mean, if he doesn’t pony up…” 

“We take his ship,” Drax suggested, awakened by the mention of money and violence. 

“Exactly!” Rocket affirmed. 

“B-B-B-B-Bingo!” Quill said. Gamora shot him a look, which he replied to with a small shake of his head. _Honestly_ , he thought to her. _It’s like dealing with a bunch of children. You gotta give them some motivation first_. She must have read his face, because she let it go. 

“We are arriving,” Mantis said quietly from the back. 

“Alright Guardians, don’t forget,” Quill said, switching some flips on the dashboard, “This might be dangerous so let’s put on our mean faces.” 

A beeping sound from the back interrupted his speech. He turned around to face the twiggy teenager, eyes glued to the screen. “Groot, put that thing away. Now. I don’t want to tell you again,” Quill said tiredly. “Groot,” he pushed when he heard no response. 

“ _I am groot_ ,” Groot replied bitterly. 

“Woah!” The whole ship exclaimed in surprise. Everyone switched on varying degrees of parent mode. 

“Language!” Rocket cried. 

“You got some acorns on you, kid,” Quill said. 

“Ever since you got a little sap, you’re a total d-hole,” Rocket continued. “You keep it up, and I’m going to smash that thing to pieces!” 

Groot looked at him with an expression that could only be described as traitorous. 

The ship came speeding to a halt once they reached their coordinates. Everyone’s eyes widened in shock. 

Bodies were floating like snowflakes in space, outnumbering even the ruined sheets of metal that scraped their way along the Milano’s sides as Quill steered her through the chaos. There were too many to count. Each was frozen with a pained expression and iced hair, though the anguish on their faces showed that they were not killed by the vacuum. Whatever had killed them had been much worse. 

“What happened?” Gamora wondered out loud. 

“Oh my God,” Peter whispered to himself. 

“Looks like we’re not getting paid,” Rocket added helpfully. 

Suddenly, there was a crash on their window. Two bodies banged up against it, pressed against the glass so firmly that they wouldn’t slide off like all the others had. It was too dark to make out anything but the fact that they were both male, and that their hands were clasped tightly together. 

“Ah! Wipers, wipers!” Rocket yelled madly. “Get ‘em off!” 

Just as Quill was about to press the button to clear the shield, one of the figures twitched. They all looked closer, and jumped back when they realized his eye had opened wide. 

***

After bringing the bodies in through the airlock, it was easy to see that only one had lived. His other eye was covered by a metal patch, and his breathing was strained. His lungs were probably badly damaged. 

The other, however, could not have been more dead. His eyes were still open, filled with fear and with blood. What had once been the whites of his eyes were shot with veins, and his mouth hung open with what could only be a broken jaw. Frozen blood had crusted over his lips. His head lolled at an angle too awkward for his neck to be anything but broken. 

The Guardians dragged the two bodies into their healing bay, and draped the living one on the table on his back. Drax tugged at the hand that was still connected to the dead body, but the man’s fingers were like iron. The ice that coated his skin slowly began to melt in the heat of the Milano, and his breathing became a bit more even. 

Gamora tugged at his fingers gently at first, then with more force. Finally, she was able to pry his thumb away and slip the dead man’s hand out. She kicked the body into the corner of the room, to be dealt with later. They had larger concerns at the moment. 

“How the hell is this dude still alive?” Quill wondered and Rocket sniffed the man. 

“This is not a dude,” Drax said softly. “You’re a dude. This… this is a _man_ . A handsome, muscular _man_.”

“ _I’m_ muscular,” Quill argued. 

“Who are you kidding Quill, you’re one sandwich away from fat,” Rocket fired back. 

“Yeah, right,” Quill chuckled. 

“It’s true,” Drax said. “You have put on weight.” He gestured to the space under his chin, then used both hands to motion around his belly. 

“What?” Quill said, offended. “Gamora, do you think I’m-?” 

Gamora wasn’t listening. She circled the unconscious man, her eyes glued to his biceps. 

Mantis put a hand on the man’s forehead, her antenna beginning to glow. “He is anxious,” she said. “Angry. He feels tremendous loss, and guilt.” 

“He’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel,” Drax whispered. 

“Wow,” Quill said, not having been paying attention for the past few minutes. “This has been a wake-up call for me. Okay. I’m going to get a Bowflex. I’m gonna commit. I’m gonna get some dumbbells.” 

“You know you can’t eat dumbbells, right?” Rocket joked. 

Gamora ran a hand over the man’s left arm. “It’s like his muscles are made of Katatium metal fibers…” 

“Stop massaging his muscles,” Quill said uneasily. 

Gamora dropped the arm suddenly, giving Quill a stern look. She went on to comment, “He’s tense. His grip on that body was like a vice.” 

“Do you think they were lovers?” Drax whispered. 

Quill shot Drax a questioning expression before he looked over at Mantis. “Wake him up,” he said quietly. 

Mantis replaced the hand on the man’s forehead and muttered, “ _Wake_.”

With a grunt and a yelp, every muscle in the man’s body tensed as he sat bolt upright. Lightning crackled from his fingertips and into the metal table underneath him, causing the lights to flicker. His eye glowed a blinding blue for a minute as he leapt to his feet and stumbled a few steps, before he calmed down and the lights resumed their steady glow. He took a few deep breaths, hunched over and leaning against the wall. He turned around slowly, apprehension in his eye. 

The Guardians had all pulled their weapons out in response to the electricity coming from the man. Each had faces of varying degrees of nervousness, and the man now had three guns and four knives pointed in his direction, along with Mantis’ best impression of a scary face. 

“Where the hell am I?” Thor asked breathlessly. “Where is Loki?” He looked down at his hand, empty of his brother’s. 

“You mean him?” Quill asked, flicking his gun in the body’s direction. “Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to be much use to you anymore. He’s dead. Who are you?” 

Thor didn’t answer. He strode past the Guardians, pushed Quill out of his way and ignored the cocking of weapons behind him. He knelt over Loki’s body, examining it. It definitely looked dead, complete with lifeless eyes and a very, very broken neck, the skin stretched over a place where the bone was trying to break through. He put a hand on Loki’s cheek. It felt real, too. _What kind of trick is this?_

“I know you’re not dead, Loki,” Thor said firmly. “I’ve cried, I’ve gotten the mourning over with, you can come back now. I’ve gone through the whole thing.” 

“Look, he obviously meant a lot to you, but he’s gone,” Gamora said carefully. She moved closer, perhaps to comfort Thor? “You have to let him go.” 

“Oh, he’s not rid of me yet,” said a voice from behind everyone. 

The Guardians whirled around and raised their weapons yet again, this time at the mysterious man who had just appeared out of thin air. The blood and paleness were gone, and his eyes were full of life and mirth. His hair fell over his shoulders in black waves, and his neck was very much unbroken. His hands clasped in front of him, the man was looking rather happy with himself. 

“Loki,” Thor whispered happily, before standing and pushing past Quill yet again (Quill was getting rather tired of being pushed around so much) to envelop Loki in a hug. Loki let out a huff and rolled his eyes, patting Thor gently on the back. 

“How did you-?” Quill looked back at the body, but as they were speaking it dissolved like a hologram into green and yellow light, before disappearing entirely. “What was-?” 

“Ah yes, I had to make it convincing if Thanos was going to believe I was really dead,” Loki admitted as Thor finally let him go. “A blow to my pride to be seen so weak, but it will be me laughing in the end.” 

“You really are something, brother,” Thor laughed as he clapped a hand on Loki’s shoulder. Loki looked up at him smugly. 

“Who is this beautiful raven man?” Drax gasped, his mouth agape in wonder. “He was so ugly in death! But now he is a figure of gothic poise and picture! How is this happening?” 

“Dude! Tone down the simping, alright, we get it, they’re both pretty,” Rocket scolded. 

“Well, I agree that I am the pinnacle of grace,” Loki conceded with a smile. Thor looked at his brother proudly, happy that he was finally acknowledging something good about himself. 

“Did you say Thanos?” Gamora asked suddenly, as if snapping out of a trance. 

Thor turned to her, his happiness gone, replaced by seriousness. “What do _you_ know about Thanos?” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Odinsons discuss potential plans of action and give the Guardians about a year's worth of confusion.

“The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal.” Gamora looked solemnly out the window, leaning on her arm. “To bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of all life.”

Thor looked up from the soup he’d been drinking. Loki sat next to him, his bowl discarded on the table by his side. Obviously, he was too good for the Guardians’ soup. 

“He used to kill people, planet by planet,” Gamora continued, “Massacre by massacre.” 

“Including my own,” Drax added sadly. 

“If he gets all six Infinity Stones he can do it with the snap of fingers, like this,” Gamora said dramatically, snapping in demonstration. 

“You seem to know a great deal about Thanos,” Thor commented. 

“Thor,” Loki warned.

“Gamora was the daughter of Thanos,” Drax said carefully. Gamora closed her eyes regretfully. 

Thor put his spoon down. “Your father killed my best friend and half my people,” he said angrily, rising to his feet. 

“Oh boy,” Rocket sighed as Thor stalked over to Gamora. 

“Stepfather, technically,” Quill said, trying to step between Thor and Gamora. “And she hates him as much as you do-” 

Thor planted a hand on Gamora’s shoulder. “Families can be tough.” 

Loki rolled his eyes from where he was still sitting. “Don’t we know it.” 

“You know,” Thor said, staring off into the distance as if recalling a pleasant memory, “Before our father died he told us that we had a half sister whom he imprisoned in Hel. Then she returned home and tried to take over the world, so we had to kill her.” 

“Not to mention she stabbed out your eye,” Loki added, nodding. 

“That’s life though, isn’t it?” Thor said, turning to his brother with a smile. “Just, round and round…” He turned back to Gamora. “We feel your pain.” 

“I feel your pain, as well,” Quill said quickly. “Because, I mean, it’s not a competition, but I’ve been through a lot.” Gamora rolled her eyes and began to walk away, realizing Quill was talking more to Thor and Loki than to her. “My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father…” Rocket sighed as Thor took an obnoxiously loud sip of his soup. “... and it was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I came out with both my eyes.” 

“But if it were a competition, I think we would win,” Loki said, looking at Thor to agree with him. “I mean, Thor and I alone of the family already have a very… how shall I put it? Complicated relationship with many nuances.” 

“Yes,” Thor agreed, the competitive side of the brothers emerging like the sun. “Yes, Loki has tried to kill me at least eight hundred times in the last half-century, and actually six times since yesterday’s breakfast.” 

“Seven times,” Loki corrected him. 

“Seven?” Thor asked, seemingly oblivious to the various looks of horror on the Guardians’ faces. 

“Yes, I think you’re forgetting the time with the poison, and the danishes,” Loki said casually. 

“No, but that wouldn’t count,” Thor argued. “I’ve built up an immunity to that poison after all the times you’ve already used it, so really only six.” 

“Why are you keeping track of this?” Rocket asked under his breath. He was ignored. 

Loki shrugged. “Fine. You win. I’ll just have to find a stronger poison.” 

Thor smiled at him once again. He raised the spoon to his lips once more, but paused when he looked down at it. “I need a hammer, not a spoon,” he said thoughtfully, shaking the spoon in the air. 

“Oh no,” Loki said. “You’re not thinking of going to-?” 

He cut himself off as Thor ignored him and walked over to the pod entrance. 

“I thought we established that you were more powerful without the hammer?” Loki asked, standing up. 

“Not against Thanos,” Thor told him. He gestured to the door. “How do I open this thing, is there a, uh… some sort of four digit code? Maybe?” He began pushing random buttons on the touchpad. 

“Try vocal recognition,” Loki chuckled, standing at Thor’s side. “But I don’t think either will work. Maybe smash your head against the doors until they open. Your skull is thick enough, you can take it.” 

“What are you doing?” Rocket asked. 

“We’re taking your pod,” Thor answered. 

Quill cleared his throat. “No you’re not.” He spoke with a clearly deepened voice, the other Guardians looking at him in confusion. “You will not be taking our pod today, sirs.” 

Loki tried to hold it back, he really did, but his face broke into a smile and he giggled at the absurdity of this human and his pride. 

Rocket was clearly not fooled by the man. “Quill, are you making your voice deeper?” 

Quill turned around slowly. “No.” 

“You are,” Drax realized. “You’re imitating the god man.” 

“Wha-? No, I’m not-” 

Mantis gasped and pointed. “He just did it again!” 

“This is my voice!” Quill protested. 

Thor stepped down to be level with Quill, but he still had a good few inches over him. “Are you mocking me?” 

Loki had to hold back another laugh. He loved his brother, and yet he could never help his amusement at Thor’s human pettiness. 

“Are you mocking me?” Quill fired back. 

“Stop it, you just- you just did it again.” 

Quill turned to his crewmates. “He’s trying to copy me.” 

“Okay, you just stop it-” Thor started to argue. 

“That’s enough, children,” Loki interrupted. 

“He was… doing it first,” Thor finished, trying to excuse himself. 

“We need to stop Thanos!” Gamora shouted. “Which means we need to find out where he’s going next.” 

Loki threw a glance at Thor. They both knew which stone Thanos would be going after next, but Loki had never been told where the Aether was actually being kept. He supposed the Warriors Three didn’t trust him enough to tell him. 

“Knowhere,” Thor said after a moment of thought. 

“He must be going  _ somewhere _ ,” said Mantis. 

“No, no, Knowhere?” Quill said. “That’s a place. We’ve been there, it sucks.” 

“You can’t be serious,” Loki said to Thor, quickly putting the pieces together. “Really? All the places you could have put it and you decided to give it to him?” 

“I didn’t have a say in the matter! If anything, you would have,” Thor protested. “You were posing as our father at the time, I thought you made the call! It’s something just crazy enough to have been you!” 

“No, your three amigos took it before I could get my hands on it. If it was up to me, I would have kept it.” 

Thor opened a cabinet in the corner and began taking a few packets of sustenance. 

“Excuse me, that’s our food,” Quill said frustratedly. 

“Not anymore,” Thor said. 

“Thor, Loki, what are you talking about? Why would Thanos go to Knowhere?” Gamora asked. 

“Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored there with a man called the Collector.” 

“Questionably safely,” Loki amended. 

“I gotta say I’m with your brother, Thor, only an idiot would give that man a stone,” Quill said. 

“Or a genius,” Thor argued. 

“Volstagg was hardly a genius,” said Loki. 

“How do you know he’s not going for one of the other stones?” Gamora continued with her questions, focused. 

Thor looked at Loki and the two began explaining. “There are six stones out there,” Loki said. “Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it, last week, when he decimated Xandar.”

“The Time and Mind Stones are safe, they’re on Earth with the Avengers,” Thor said. 

“Again, questionably safe,” Loki said quietly. 

Thor looked at him, exasperated. “What?” Loki asked. “It took all six of you just to beat me.” 

“The Avengers?” Quill asked. 

“Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, or something like that,” Loki explained. 

“Like Kevin Bacon?” Mantis asked. 

Loki looked at Thor questioningly. 

“He… may be on the team, I don’t know, I haven’t been there in a while,” Thor said after a minute. “As for the Soul Stone, well, no one’s ever seen  _ that _ , no one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can’t get it, therefore he’s going to Knowhere, hence he’ll be getting the Reality Stone.” 

Gamora suddenly gained a painful, guilty look on her face. This did not escape Loki, who narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing. 

“You’re welcome,” Thor finally finished. 

“Wait,” Quill said. “That’s five stones you’ve mentioned. What about the Space Stone?” 

Thor looked at Loki expectantly. Loki returned it with an innocent smile. “Well, Thanos thinks he has it.” He held out his hand, and the blue gem materialized out of thin air. “But alas, he is wrong.” Loki looked at the shocked faces all around him. “Surprise.” 

The Guardians all stepped quickly away from him, pressing their backs against the walls and holding up their hands. 

“I knew you had a better plan than going after Thanos with a butterknife!” Thor said happily. 

“How are you touching that?” Quill asked loudly. “The last time we saw someone touch an Infinity Stone with their bare hand, the entire building exploded! Not to mention when all of us held one together, our insides started boiling!” 

“Well, there's a simple explanation for that. You're all peasants,” Loki reasoned. He held out the stone. “Now, you take it.” 

“ _ What _ ?” they all wailed. 

“Character development!” Thor proclaimed. “You spent years chasing that stone, Loki! I’m glad to see you’ve finally moved on and are ready to give it up.” 

“Oh no, I have every intention of claiming it for myself,” Loki told him. “But sooner or later, the illusion I left Thanos with is going to wear off, or if he tries to use the stone, well, he’s going to realize pretty quickly that he doesn’t actually have it. When he reasons that I stole it right out of the Gauntlet while he was strangling fake me, he’s going to be looking for real me - and you, by the way - to find it. It’s much safer with these fools, who he doesn’t even know exist. He’s killed me once already, I’d like to keep that number where it is, thank you very much. I’ll just come back for it when this is all over.” 

Gamora searched in the many cabinets of the Milano before finally pulling out a shiny metal orb. “We used this to hold the Power Stone,” she said. “It can hold the Space Stone too, hopefully.” 

“Wait, what?” Quill held up his hands. “We just said we were going after Thanos, we shouldn’t be bringing the stone right to him.” 

“We can just leave it on the ship,” Drax suggested. 

“Oh right, because he’ll never find it there,” Rocket said sarcastically. 

“We’re keeping it,” Gamora insisted. “Loki is right. It’s safer with us.” 

“Besides, we’re not going to find Thanos,” Thor said.

“Wait, what?” Gamora whirled around to face him. 

“Thor,” Loki said, “Is quite determined to go to Nidavellir.” 

“That’s a made-up word,” said Drax.

“All words are made up. And my brother is correct.” Thor began stuffing the food he’d taken into a bag. 

“Nidavellir is real?” Rocket asked, jumping up onto the table. “Seriously?” His crewmates gave him questioning looks. “I mean, that place is a legend! They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the universe!” He turned to Thor. “I would very much like to go there, please.” 

“The rabbit is correct and clearly the smartest among you,” Thor said.

“Rabbit?” Rocket asked hesitantly. 

Loki put a hand to his forehead. “It’s a raccoon, Thor,” he said tiredly. 

“No, look at it, that’s clearly a rabbit,” Thor insisted. 

“Hold on now-” Rocket started to argue. 

“Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need,” Thor continued. “I assume you are the captain, sir,” he said to Rocket. 

“You’re very perceptive,” Rocket said. 

“You seem like a noble leader.” Thor smiled. “Would you like to join us on our quest to Nidavellir?” 

“Yeah, let me just ask the captain,” Rocket replied. “Oh, wait a second, it’s me! Yeah, I’ll go.” 

“Wonderful,” said Thor. 

“Uh, except for that I’m the captain,” Quill said. 

“I don’t suppose I get a say in all this,” Loki mused. 

“Oh, please,” Thor chuckled. “You’ve wanted to get a set of knives from Nidavellir since you were fifty. And now that Father isn’t around to tell you no, there’s nothing in the way but miles and miles of space.” 

Loki tipped his head at that. He did like knives. 

“That’s my backpack,” Quill tried to say as Thor approached the pod. He was ignored. “Hey, look, this is my ship! And I’m not going to- to- wait, what kind of weapon are we talking about here?” 

“The Thanos-killing kind,” Thor said offhandedly. 

“Don’t you think that we should all have a weapon like that?” 

“Oh, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Loki said. “Although it would be fun to watch you try, you all lack the strength needed to wield one.” 

“Yes, your bodies would crumple as your minds collapsed into madness,” Thor added. 

“Is it weird that I want to do it even more now?” Rocket wondered. 

“A little bit,” Thor answered. 

“If we don’t go to Knowhere,” Gamora warned, “And Thanos retrieves another stone, he’ll be too powerful to stop.” 

“He already is,” Thor argued. 

“I got it figured out,” Rocket said. 

“Oh, goody.” Loki clapped his hands together in jest. “This should be fun.” 

“We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons,” Rocket continued. “So me and Groot will go with the pirate angel and raven goth, and the morons will go to Knowhere and try to stop Thanos. Cool? Cool.” 

“So cool,” Thor affirmed. 

“For the record,” Quill said to Rocket as the second group boarded the pod, “I know that you’re only going with him because it’s where Thanos isn’t.” 

“You know, you really shouldn’t talk that way to your captain, Quill.” Rocket waved Groot over. “Come on, Groot. Put that game down, you’ll rot your brain.” 

Groot’s eyes never left his game as he joined the two Asgardians in the pod. 

“I bid you farewell and good luck,” Thor said. 

“Morons,” Loki added. “Bye.” 

Thor waved as the pod detached from the Milano and went soaring off into space, hopefully towards the only thing that could stop Thanos. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, Loki took the Space Stone back. I know Thanos used it to teleport in the movie, but for now let's just say he's using his ship's technology (we know the ships have a weird beaming technology) instead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang travels to Nidavellir, but it's not quite in the condition they expect it to be.

“I am groot,” Groot protested. 

“Just tinkle in the cup. We’re not looking, what’s there to see?” Rocket replied. “What’s a twig, everybody’s seen a twig.” 

“I am  _ groot _ ,” he said again. 

“You are disgusting,” Loki spat. 

“Then you pour what’s in the cup out into space and go in the cup again,” Thor said, ignoring his brother. 

“Not you too,” Loki sighed. 

“You guys speak Groot?” Rocket asked. 

“We speak many languages,” Loki answered. 

“Groot in particular was taught on Asgard,” Thor said. “It was an elective.” 

“I am groot,” Groot said impatiently. 

“You’ll know when we’re close,” Thor said. 

“God, is this one of those road trips I’ve heard about from the Midgardians you love so much?” Loki asked. “Nidavellir isn’t worth it. I should have just let Thanos kill me.” 

“We’re not so bad, Loki.” Thor patted him on the back. Loki’s expression didn’t lighten. Thor turned back to Groot. “Nidavellir’s forge harnesses the blazing power of a neutron star. It’s the birthplace of my hammer.” 

“And we’re back to the hammer again,” Loki mused. 

“It was truly awesome,” Thor said wistfully. 

Rocket swiveled in his chair to look at the brothers, who sat solemnly at the back of the pod. “Okay,” he said to himself. “Time to be the captain.” 

He set the ship to autopilot and walked over to the two. “So… dead father, huh? Yeah, that can be annoying.” 

“Not so much for me, honestly.” Loki looked into the distance. “To be honest, I never truly cared for him. I don’t know why I constantly sought his approval. What would that have given me? Validation? Pride?” 

“You didn’t need his validation, Loki,” Thor assured him. “But he was our father. Caring for him is in our nature.” 

“And you were talking about your sister,” Rocket prompted. 

“Yes, also dead,” Thor told him. 

“Still got a mom, though?” Rocket asked hopefully. 

Loki suddenly stood up and walked to the front of the pod wordlessly. The passive look in his eyes had turned dark, and suddenly his whole demeanor changed. Before, Rocket had seen a mischievous figure who simply thought he was better than everyone else. Now? Loki looked like one of the villains Rocket and the Guardians might have had to take down. 

“She was… killed by a dark elf,” Thor said finally. “Loki doesn’t like to talk about it. They were very close.” 

“A best friend? You have to have one of those,” Rocket suggested. 

“Stabbed through the heart,” Thor said. 

“Yeesh.” Rocket scowled. “Is there a bright side to all this? You seem very dark-side focused.” 

“You would be looking on the dark side, too, if everyone you’d ever loved had been slaughtered,” Loki said without looking at them. 

“But hey, you’ve still got each other, right?” Rocket motioned with his hands. “Surely that counts for something.” 

Loki finally turned around and looked at Thor. “I suppose that’s true,” he conceded. 

Thor smiled weakly at him. “That is true, Loki. I’m glad I still have you.” 

“I am groot?” asked Groot. 

“Yes, I suppose we did say that,” Thor said. “The other half of our people were saved by a new friend of ours, a valkyrie. Hopefully she is taking them somewhere safe.” 

“Well, she’s more responsible than both of us put together,” Loki said. “I’m sure she’ll protect them just fine.” 

“She will make a better king than I ever would have,” Thor said quietly. “I couldn’t protect them from Thanos. It’s likely they’ve lost all faith in me, if they ever had any to begin with.” The pod was suddenly very silent. The mood had gone dark again despite Rocket’s best efforts. 

“Are you sure you’re up for this particular murder mission?” Rocket asked, cutting through the quiescence. 

“No, if anything, he should be up for it,” Loki insisted. “Thor. Look at me.” He squatted in front of his brother. “Our people have not lost faith in you. They love you. You sacrificed yourself for them so they could get away. On multiple occasions, actually.” Loki chuckled to himself. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you are a great king. You were better in a few days than Odin was in all his millennia of kingship. You don’t need this weapon to prove yourself to them. You don’t need to kill Thanos to prove yourself to them. But for some reason, you clearly need to prove it to yourself.” 

Thor smiled at Loki. “That’s rich, coming from you. You’ve never gone a day in your life without hating yourself.” 

Loki let out a huff. “I suppose we’ll have to work together to become better, won’t we?” 

“Yes,” Thor agreed. “And make no mistake, it won’t be me killing Thanos. It will be both of us.” 

Rocket shuffled awkwardly, feeling like an intruder to a private conversation. “Well, all of us, really,” he said under his breath. “You know, we helped too, a little bit.” 

Thor and Loki both stood and made their way over to the front of the pod. Rocket followed hesitantly, unsure if either of them was going to burst into emotions again, but they seemed to have steeled themselves once more. Rocket took his seat in the front of the ship. 

It was silent until the monitors started beeping. 

“Hey, we’re here,” Rocket called. 

“No, we’re not,” Thor protested. “Your device must be broken, everything here is dark.” 

“No, Thor, he’s right,” Loki said. “This is Nidavellir.” 

The great rings were frozen in place, coated in ice and darkened. The only light came from the pod’s headlights and boosters, but it was barely enough to illuminate further than twenty feet. The entire realm looked dead. 

“Something is wrong,” Loki figured. 

“The star has gone out,” Thor explained. “And the rings are frozen.”

Rocket followed Thor’s instructions and steered the pod through an open gate. The inside of the forge was just as dead as the outside, if not more. Not only was everything frozen, but it was horribly bent out of shape. Cracks could be seen on almost every surface, and the walls hung by mere wires from the ceiling. The place was falling apart. 

They set the pod down on one of the only undamaged areas and stepped out hesitantly. 

“I hope these dwarves are better at forging than they are at cleaning,” Rocket said. “I mean, do they realize that they live in a junk pile in the middle of space?” 

“This forge hasn’t gone dark in centuries,” Thor muttered. 

Loki ran his hand over a large pair of tongs lying by an unlit fireplace. They were coated in a thick layer of dust, which he rubbed between his fingers. 

“You said Thanos had a Gauntlet, right?” Rocket asked. 

“Yes,” Thor said. “Why?” 

“Did it look anything like that?” Rocket pointed to a mold resting on a pedestal a few feet away. Sure enough, it was the spitting image of the Infinity Gauntlet. Loki recognized it, recognized the grooves that he has stolen a stone right out of. 

“I am groot,” Groot said nervously. 

“Get back to the pod,” Thor ordered. However, when he turned around, he was kicked squarely in the chest and sent flying. 

Loki reacted immediately, throwing two knives up his sleeves to rest in his palms. He charged at the shape, but stopped when Thor held up a hand to signal them both to freeze. 

“Eitri, wait!” he yelled. “Stop!”

The huge dwarf hesitated for a moment before his face softened. “Thor?” 

Thor nodded. “What happened here?” 

“You were supposed to protect us,” Eitri said mournfully. “Asgard was supposed to protect us!” Eitri raised his fist to hit the Asgardian again.

“Asgard couldn’t even protect itself!” Loki said quickly. “Ragnarok has happened! Asgard is destroyed!” 

“Eitri,” Thor said, “The glove… what did you do?” 

Eitri swayed weakly before falling backwards to sit down. “Three hundred dwarves lived on this ring,” he mumbled. “I thought if I did what he asked, then they’d be safe.” He sighed. “I made what he wanted. A device capable of harnessing the power of the stones.” He looked at the mold of the Gauntlet. “And he killed- and he killed everyone anyway.” He sniffed. “All except me. Your life is yours, he said. But your hands-” Eitri held up his hands, or at least Loki thought he did. He then realized where the dwarf’s hands should have been were only stumps, coated in metal and stunted, maimed beyond recognition. “Your hands are mine alone.” 

“Eitri, this isn’t about your hands,” Thor said. “Every weapon you’ve ever designed, every axe, hammer, sword, it’s all inside your head.” He pointed to his own head. “Now, I know it feels like all hope is lost, trust me, I know. But you can give us the tools we need to defeat Thanos once and for all. Please help us.” 

“Us?” The dwarf asked. “You mean you and your traitorous brother? How do I know you’re not some trick of his?” He gestured wildly to Loki. “How do I know he’s not working for Thanos? He’s done it before!” 

Rocket and Groot both turned to Loki immediately. “You what?” Rocket asked. 

Loki’s fingers suddenly got very tight around his knives. 

“Against his will,” Thor explained defensively. “He was tortured. Driven close to madness. But he has been saved now. He is better. I trust him.” Thor nodded at Loki, asking him to agree. 

Loki was surprised yet again. He had never told Thor about the torture he had gone through at the hands of the Chitauri. How had Thor known? Had he been that obvious in his movements? Had it shown that every step had felt like needles at first? 

He supposed he needed to give Thor more credit. His brother, though bitter about it, clearly cared for him more than Loki originally thought. 

“It’s true,” he said. “I did serve Thanos, but not of my own will. I want him dead as much as anyone here, if not more.” 

Eitri seemed less than satisfied with that answer, but he nodded. “Very well. I can help you.” 

Thor looked at Loki again and smiled. Loki did his best to smile back. Perhaps when this was all over, he could finally talk to his brother about everything he longed to say. 

But for now, they had a titan to kill. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I didn't give Thor a robot eye, because Taika Waititi knew what he was doing. Deal with it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the forges asleep and the rings frozen, the gang has to figure out a way to bring them back to life to get what they need.

Eitri walked the gang through the battered hallways, past stacks and stacks of metals and molds. Faint blue light filtered through holes in the ceiling. The sound of their footsteps echoed loudly, and though Loki wanted to say something he thought it best to stay silent for the moment.

“The metal we would need to create such a weapon is locked in the safest place in the ring,” Eitri explained. “Uru. The strongest material in the galaxy.” 

“What about vibranium?” Rocket asked. 

“Vibranium is strong,” Eitri admitted, “But Uru is so powerful that it can only be melted down to the point we would need it by the force of a dying star.” 

“Well, that presents something of a challenge,” Loki said. “Considering your star is already dead.” 

“It’s alive,” Eitri snapped. “But with the rings frozen, it will stay trapped in the casing. We must get the rings spinning before we can forge anything.” 

“We shall cross that bridge when we come to it,” Thor said. “Right now, let us retrieve this Uru and forge our weapons.” 

Eitri came to a stop in front of a locked safe, each gear frozen in place. He pulled at a lever to the side, and the ice coating the safe cracked as the gears began to turn. When the door opened with a puff of dust, Loki expected to see hoards of Uru, considering the legends that surrounded the plentiful forges of Nidavellir. He should have known better. The forge was nearly empty, save a few ingots in the corner collecting dust. 

“Where is the rest of it?” Thor asked. 

“Gone,” Eitri said sadly. “We used it to create the mold for the Infinity Gauntlet. This is all that remains.”

“This is only enough for one weapon,” Thor pointed out. 

“Do you need more than one?” Eitri demanded. 

Thor pointed to Loki. “We were going to defeat Thanos together. Loki and I need weapons of equal power to stand up to him as a team.” 

“Well, you may have to change your plans,” Eitri said harshly. “Only one of you will get a weapon until the Uru supply is refilled.” 

Loki looked at Thor and motioned for him to come aside. Thor excused himself from the rest of the group and he and Loki huddled together in a corner. 

“You need to take it,” Loki said. 

“What?” Thor gave him a quizzical look. “Loki, we’re a team. We’re equals. Not to mention you’ve wanted a Nidavellir-forged weapon since you were a child. It’s not fair for me to take yet another. We’ll just make two very small weapons, it will be fine-” 

“No, Thor.” Loki took a deep breath, trying to beat down his emotions. He and Thor, equals? It was everything he’d wanted, ever since he was old enough to understand what ‘equal’ meant. For Thor to finally acknowledge that he thought of them as equal was a milestone Loki never thought they would reach. But there were bigger fish to fry at the moment than Loki’s emotions. “You’re right, I’ve always been a bit jealous of you and your special weapon. But this isn’t about either of us. It’s about stopping Thanos. Thor, you are the rightful king of Asgard. You are the one they love. That weapon should be wielded by you, and you alone. I support you, Thor. I understand, for once, that this is bigger than whatever is between the two of us.” 

Thor paused for a moment. “No,” he said finally. “We can go to wherever Uru is mined, we’ll get more, we can make you a weapon too-” 

Loki slapped Thor across the face. “We don’t have time to argue about this,” he scolded, ignoring Thor’s look of surprise. “You are getting that weapon and accepting it, or so help me I’ll forge it myself and throw it at you.” 

“Thank you,” Thor breathed. “Thank you, brother, for letting me have this. But as I have said before, regardless of who carries the weapon, we are doing this together.” He clapped a hand on Loki’s shoulder. “And when this whole ordeal is over, we shall return and finally forge you a custom set of knives.”

“I do like knives,” Loki conceded. “Now, let’s see what kind of weapon Eitri has in mind.” 

***

The mechanism, somehow still in order, lowered the bulky rectangular shape. It landed in the forge’s coke with a crash and a release of steam, coming to rest peacefully in the darkness. 

“This is the plan? We’re going to hit him with a brick?” Rocket asked, gesturing. 

“It’s a mold,” Eitri said defensively. “A king’s weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost.” 

“Does it have a name?” Thor asked. 

Eitri gave him a serious look. “Stormbreaker.” 

Loki contained a chuckle. “How climactic.” 

“Yeah, it’s a bit much,” Rocket agreed. 

“So how do we make it?” Thor asked. 

“We’ll have to restart the forge,” Eitri explained. “Awaken the heart of the dying star.” He looked at the moon-sized casing in the center of Nidavellir. 

“Rabbit,” Thor said, “Fire up the pod.” 

Rocket skittered off to start the pod, Groot wandering sluggishly behind him with his eyes glued to the screen. 

“What exactly is your plan?” Loki asked. 

“I’m going to spin it for momentum and get the rings moving again,” Thor said confidently. 

“That’s a horrible plan,” Loki said. 

Thor looked at him. “Do you have a better one?” 

Loki shrugged. “No, but I know that one won’t work. The ice on the joint of the ring is too thick, it won’t be broken by a pod no matter how hard you swing it first.” 

“So what do you suggest?” 

Loki gave it a moment of thought. “You know what, you do your pod plan, but you’ll have to get the timing right on with my idea.”

“You idea being?” Thor prompted. 

“I guess you’ll see.” 

***

Rocket dropped Thor off on the surface of the outermost ring. “I don’t think you get the scientifics here. These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, you’re going to need something a lot bigger to yank them loose.” 

“Leave that to me,” Thor said. He grabbed a hold of the wire hanging from the pod and gripped it in both hands. 

“Leave it to you?” Rocket asked. “Buddy, you’re in space. All you got is a rope and a-” 

Rocket was cut off as Thor spun in circles, dragging the pod along with him. His heels and ankles began to buckle after a minute, but he didn’t see the signal yet, so he kept spinning. _Hurry up Loki,_ he thought. 

Loki, meanwhile, was running quickly through the forge, doing his best to drag the huge mechanism behind him. 

_ ‘The bellows here are special, are they not?’  _ he’d asked. 

_ ‘Yes,’  _ Eitri had answered. _ ‘To keep the forges hot, we needed more than just hot air. We needed the bellows to breathe fire, so we created them specially to do just that.’  _

_ ‘Do you have any working bellows left?’  _

Loki dragged it and dragged it until he was in position. The bellows was huge, taller than Loki himself, but he aimed the nozzle straight out into space and pointed it at the icy walls around the joint of the rings. 

“This better work,” he muttered to himself as he reached above his head to grab the top valve. He then pulled his feet up off the ground, using his own body weight to crush the air out of the bellows and onto the ice. As promised, as soon as it left the nozzle, the air heated and combusted, bursting into an explosion of blue flame. 

Thor saw it from the corner of his eye as he spun. A brilliant blue light, licking over the icy joint of the rings. He finally stopped spinning and let the momentum of the pod carry him forward, hurtling through space. “Fire the engine!” 

Rocket was yelling, the g-forces of being spun so fast making his head hurt. However, as soon as he felt himself flying forward he pushed at the handlebars and propelled the pod even faster. 

Thor dug his feet into the metal plating, kicking most of it up but finally stopping at a particularly strong support. The rings buckled, but even under the heat of the fire and the pressure of the pod, it did not give. 

“More power, Rabbit!” Thor cried. 

Loki pushed the valves back up to their original position and pulled yet again until his back was almost against the floor. He could feel the heat of the flames against his own skin, but he could also feel the ring he stood in tremble as it tried to break free. 

Rocket pushed the steering handles further than he thought he could. The pod lights flickered with the power it must have taken from the engine’s core, but clearly it did the trick. 

The ice walls in front of Loki shattered violently with the force. Thankfully, the rings began to spin, causing the gravity under Loki’s feet to lapse momentarily, but carrying to him safety and away from the flying shards. He tumbled and rolled into a pile of metal boxes, breathing heavily and wiping the grime of the bellows off his hands. “Easy peasy,” he whispered. 

As the rings spun, the casings around the star began to let up. They opened, letting out beams of golden light and heat flares. Once the rings lined up again, a corona of orange starlight erupted from the center of the star. 

“Well done, boys,” Eitri said under his breath from where he had watched the whole ordeal. 

Thor let space carry him to the windshield of the pod, wrapping his arms around it to face Rocket. “That’s Nidavellir!” he said happily, pointing to the star. 

Rocket’s eyes widened in wonder. The light truly was majestic and brilliant, so brilliant that Rocket forgot it had ever been dark. 

The gates of the casings began to open, and a beam of focused light shot through the space. It collided with the mold so harshly the forge shook, but the heating process had begun. 

“Quickly!” Loki shouted as he ran back from where he had been operating the bellows. “The handle! We won’t have time to find it once the metal is properly set!” 

“What?” Eitri said distractedly, turning around to face the younger Odinson. 

“The handle!” Loki insisted. “Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to misplace it now!” 

Eitri flailed his hands in the air at the thought. “You’re right! I’ll find it!” 

“Odin’s beard, am I the only one with brain cells in this entire realm?” Loki cried to himself. 

However, just as the dwarf came running back with a wooden shaft in his stumpy arms, the sound of bending metal came from the center of the forge. The gate of the casings buckled, then broke, sending metal debris flying and snapping the casing shut yet again. The light disappeared. 

“Damn it,” Eitri cursed. 

“Damn it? What’s damn it?” Rocket asked. 

“The mechanism is crippled.” 

“What?” Thor demanded. 

“With the iris closed I can’t heat the metal.” Eitri sighed. 

“How long will it take to heat it?” Thor asked. 

“A few minutes, maybe more,” Eitri said. “Why?” 

“I’m going to hold it open,” Thor said determinedly. 

“What?” Loki yelled. He rushed over to where Eitri held one of the Guardian’s comms. “Thor, no. That’s suicide.” 

“So is facing Thanos without that axe.” Thor launched himself from the pod towards the gate. 

“Thor, no!” Loki shouted again. “You cannot do that! You will die in seconds! That heat is enough to melt down the most powerful substance in the universe, I think it will melt you down much faster. I’m the one who’s supposed to always be dying, not you.” 

“What happened to constantly trying to kill your brother?” Rocket asked. 

“The only one who’s allowed to kill me brother is me,” Loki told him. 

“Loki, I have to,” Thor said. “If I don’t, the metal will never heat at all.” 

“Let me do it,” Loki offered. “You need to live to wield that axe.” 

“Loki, I’m doing it, the decision is final,” Thor said, gripping the iris handles. 

“Thor, please,” Loki tried one more time. 

“Loki, I’m going to be fine,” Thor said uncertainly. “Don’t worry, I’m going to survive this. I promise.” He took a deep breath and tested the handles. They were most certainly very heavy, but he knew he could do it. 

“If you do die, I’ll never forgive you.” Loki banged his fist on the table. “Do you hear that? I’ll march into Hel and bring you back. You’ll never get any peace. So you better survive.” 

Thor nodded. “Here’s both of us hoping.” 


	6. Chapter 6

“All-fathers give me strength,” Thor whispered. 

“You understand, boy,” Eitri said. “You’re about to take the full force of a star. It’ll kill you.” 

“Only if I die,” Thor replied. 

“Yes…” Eitri said hesitantly. “That’s what… killing you means…” 

“But you’re not going to die,” Loki said firmly. “Right, Thor?” 

“Right, right,” Thor huffed. “Of course.” He adjusted his grip on the handles. 

With a deep breath, Thor pulled. He bent his knees and steeled his core as he pulled and lifted, the gate of the iris opening a crack. The heat spilled out immediately, and Thor felt like a hot iron had been pressed across his shoulders. It took all his concentration not to let the handles go right then and there to massage his boiling skin.

He kept pulling and felt the heat expand, getting no less intense as is filtered through the gate and beat on his exposed back. Lightning jumped from his fingertips into the iris mechanisms, and began to flow with the beam of light towards the forge. He felt his clothes melting away, the fabric tufts of what was left of his cape burning and the cuffs on his wrists sliding and stretching, becoming looser. He screamed with the effort and bent down until he was nearly kneeling, but the gate was open. Now, he just had to hold it. 

Loki bit his lip as he heard his brother groaning and gritting his teeth. He waited by the mold, ready for Eitri to break it open the moment he was ready. The less time Thor spent in the blazing heat, the better. He held the ready-made handle, twisting it between his hands anxiously. 

The beam of light crashed into the mold yet again. Pipes opened up again and glowed with the heat, and the fireplaces were lit for the first time in what could have been years. 

“Hold it!” Eitri cried. “Hold it!” He rushed around the forge tightening all the gears that had come loose from disuse with the stumps of his arms. 

Loki peeked into the metal cauldron. The Uru was glowing white, the ingots becoming liquid and fusing to one another. When it finally started bubbling, he signaled to Eitri to pour it into the mold. Eitri heaved his weight onto a large wheel, and once it began turning the cauldron dipped and spilled its contents into the pipelines. 

Thor’s screams subsided as he fell out of consciousness. His body collapsed into limpness, and the force of the star’s energy carried him in the path of the light towards the forge. The gate snapped shut so the cold of space froze his bleeding skin, cracking it even more. 

Rocket chased after the flying body with the pod, but Thor was travelling too fast. He bashed the side of his head against one of the ring’s supports and went flying to the ground beside where Groot was waiting for them to be done. 

Loki left the mold to Eitri and rushed to his brother’s side. Thor’s skin was so hot it burned Loki to the touch, but he felt over his brother’s neck anyways, looking for a pulse. “You promised, Thor,” he muttered. “You promised you would live…” 

Rocket exited the pod to crouch by Loki’s side. “What’s happening? Is he okay?” 

“Thor, say something,” Loki whispered desperately. His brother didn’t reply. _I’m not going to cry over him,_ Loki told himself. _I’m not going to cry because he’s not going to die._

“I think he’s dying,” Rocket said unhelpfully. 

“He needs the axe.” Eitri hurled the mold onto the metal floor, where it cracked apart. The two sides of the weapon remained intact, still orange with heat. However, they wouldn’t stay that way for long. “Where’s the handle?” 

Loki left Thor’s side and positioned the handle between the two pieces of metal. However, when he tried to slide it into place, the wood cracked and began to splinter. It caught fire, forcing Loki to hurl it to the side and drop it. “Well, that’s not ideal,” he breathed. He turned to Eitri. “What the hell was that?” he demanded. “Your handle is a piece of crap!” 

“I must have given you the wrong one,” Eitri reasoned. “Help me look for the proper one!” 

“I shouldn’t have to!” Loki screamed at him. “You had one job! My brother is dying because you couldn’t tell one piece of wood from another!”

While they continued to argue, Groot turned his eyes to the burning metal. He took a deep breath and reached out for it. 

Vines grew from his fingertips and solidified into branches. They curled their way around the supports of the axe, the metal scorching Groot’s limb. The teenager winced but never stopped tightening his grip until the metal was a part of him. Then, he raised his arm and used his other hand to sever it dramatically from his body. 

The axe fell to the ground with a crash. 

Loki watched, waited, hoping for something to happen. Did the axe being finished magically heal Thor? At first, it didn’t appear so. 

Then, Thor’s fingertips sparkled. The sparks grew in size until they were currents of electricity, running up his arms and into the floor. The axe sparked in unison, rising from the ground and crackling with energy. 

Loki took a deep breath as it flew through the air straight into his brother’s hand. Thor screamed, before exploding like a lightning storm. Bolts went in every direction. Groot sheltered Rocket and Loki leapt behind a metal well, narrowly dodging being fried. 

When the lightning storm subsided, Thor was standing. His clothes were nearly melted right off him and his skin was covered in ash, but he was undamaged and healthy. His eyes glowed with the new power, currents of white light still running up and down his arms. 

“I think it worked,” he said. 

Loki sighed with relief. “You better hold true to your promise of getting me one of those when this is all over.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a short chapter, I promise the next one is longer!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle in Wakanda is not going well. Fortunately, they are saved by a mysterious rainbow portal and some familiar faces.

Steve Rogers was getting desperate. Outriders were ripping and clawing at him from every direction, pulling his hair and his suit and dragging him through the dirt. He could hear T’Challa breathing heavily over the comms, no doubt going through much of the same. 

“There’s too many of them!” Bruce Banner called from inside the hulk-buster suit. He screamed as their claws began to tear into the metal, ripping the suit apart. 

Steve tried to claw back at the enemy just as ferociously as they attacked him, but the four-armed monsters had a significant advantage over him, given that he only had two arms and a limited stamina. Fangs tore into the back of his leg and he grunted as he kicked back. 

Just as the talons wrapped around his neck and he thought it might be the end, he felt the ground shake. A tunnel of rainbow light was barreling into the dusty battleground from above. It was blinding to look at, yet it captured his enemy’s attention. They ran towards it, yet were torn apart by the force with which it impacted the dirt. Any who survived long enough to get near it were quickly chopped like vegetables by a flying object that came from within the beam, coated in lightning and spinning through the air too fast for Steve to make out what it was. It flew over him, missing him by a hair but tearing apart all the outriders hunched over him. He breathed the free air, thanking God for whatever force had been sent to save them. 

The weapon hurtled through the air, freeing each of his friends one by one. Outriders fell like dominoes, many of them missing limbs or even the top half of their bodies. Most never even came in contact with the weapon, but they were electrocuted by the currents coming off of it. 

It finally spun in a full circle around the battlefield, returning to the beam of light. A hand emerged from the rainbow to wrap around the handle of what Steve noticed now as an axe. As the silhouette gained control over the speeding weapon, the light subsided, leaving a burning symbol on the ground where it had been. Inside the circle of burnt dust, four figures stood. Steve didn’t recognize two of them… a… tree? And a raccoon? 

But the two men he did know. He was unsure of whether to be relieved or terrified when he realized that Thor and Loki were now standing in the dead center of the fight, side by side and looking ready to kill. They both wore their signature capes down to their knees, red and green respectively. Loki wore his helmet, the golden horns curving over his forehead majestically. The first thing he noticed about Thor was his lack of hair. 

“Haha!” Bruce cheered. “You guys are so screwed now!” 

Thor looked over at Loki. The older Odinson was still crackling with energy, his eye blazing white. Loki motioned for him to get on with it and Thor smiled briefly before charging forward with a murderous glare. “Bring me  _ Thanos! _ ” he cried, picking up speed. 

Though Loki, Groot, and Rocket all charged with him, they were quickly left behind as Thor soared into the air and raised Stormbreaker, the clouds darkening around him. Lightning was pulled out of the sky to coalesce around him, until he brought the hammer down. And, Lord help them all, did he bring it down. 

He drove the blade straight into the dirt, cleaving a crack in the ground. The earth shuddered and collapsed, forming a crater. Lightning leapt from Thor to every outrider within fifty feet of him, leaving them scorched and smoking. 

Steve smiled. Perhaps they were saved. 

***

Though Rocket and Groot split up and went their separate ways, Thor and Loki never left each others’ sides. Steve was entranced just watching them. They moved so separately, yet so in unison. Loki held a knife in each hand as was his custom, and slashed methodically at anything that moved and didn’t wear a red cape. Despite the small size of his weapons, he was very effective. Though his cuts were small, he somehow managed to pinpoint a throat each time. The outrider collapsed as it bled black into the ground. Thor, on the other hand, fought wildly and without reason. He swung his new axe in circles, spinning on his heels. Lightning bolts leapt off him and fried every outrider he touched. He was smashing them into the ground with the weight of his weapon, shouting angrily. 

As the pair moved close enough for them to hear him, Steve pointed to Thor’s head. “New haircut?” he asked breathlessly. 

Thor took a break from fighting for a moment to face the captain. “Yes, and I notice you’ve copied my beard.” He gestured to his facial hair. 

Steve nodded. “You uh, you’re also missing an eye.” 

“Our evil sister stabbed it out,” Loki told him, turning around not a moment later to slit the throat of an outrider. 

“Evil sister… right,” Steve breathed, not even surprised anymore. “And I see Loki’s back.” 

“It certainly would appear that way,” Loki said. 

Thor smiled at him. “Yes! We overcame our differences and have become a team once again.” 

Steve was about to say something else when an outrider grabbed Loki’s shoulder from behind and dragged its claws along his chest. The Asgardian’s eyes widened as he fell to his knees and bled in the dust. 

“Holy shit!” Steve screamed. “What the hell-” He turned to Thor who barely even reacted. “Your brother-!” 

Thor waved a hand casually as he drove his hammer into another enemy. Sure enough, a green-clad arm reached around the first outrider’s neck to slide a knife across its jugular, and as it collapsed the real Loki was standing behind it, wiping blood off his hands. 

“Oh,” Steve said. “No, okay, he’s fine.” 

“You humans always seem to underestimate the extent of my powers,” Loki said. 

Steve motioned to their capes. “You, uh… got new outfits too.” 

Thor smiled again. He seemed to be smiling a lot, more than usual. Steve supposed he was glad to have his brother back with him. “Yes! Before we left the forges of Nidavellir, Loki insisted we get some new clothing before arriving on Earth. I was surprised, but apparently the dwarves also had textile supplies for us to use.” 

“You needed new clothes anyway,” Loki told him. “Even if your old ones hadn’t melted, they were tacky and bland.” 

Steve looked at Loki. “You mean you could have been here, like, half an hour ago, but you decided to go clothes shopping instead?” 

Loki scowled at him. “You lived, didn’t you?” 

Groot, who was fighting nearby, suddenly reached out and grew his arm like a spear, impaling about five outriders at once. “I am groot!” he shouted angrily. 

“Oh, by the way, this is a friend of ours,” Thor said, gesturing with his axe. “He’s a tree.” 

“I am groot,” Groot said. 

“I am Steve Rogers,” Steve replied, pointing to himself. 

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake. The force field surrounding the Wakandan city stretched and bent, and the dirt fell open like a blanket as several spinning wheels composed entirely of blades clawed their way to the surface. Each was as tall as a house, and they rolled over the Wakandan troops like a boot over ants. 

“Fall back!” T’Challa screamed at his forces. “Fall back now!” 

The wheels’ supports fell away and they all went their separate ways, wreaking chaos in every direction. Thankfully, Wanda Maximoff descended from the mountainside lab to throw most of them to the ground. 

“Who is that?” Loki asked. “How much could have happened in the few years I was away?” He turned to Thor. “How much did happen?” 

Thor shrugged and kept fighting. 

Obviously Steve had access to some kind of comm technology Loki and Thor weren’t in on, because he shouted randomly, “Somebody get to Vision!”

Bruce soared overhead in the suit. “On my way.” 

“Who is Vision?” Loki cried. 

Thor pointed to his forehead. “Mind Stone.” 

Loki sighed. “Of course.” He turned to Steve. “You go protect this, uh… Vision. Thor and I can handle the rest of these dull creatures.” He gestured vaguely to the hordes of outriders. Steve nodded and went running off. 

“Loki,” Thor said, “The creatures seem to be flooding out of those ships.” He pointed with Stormbreaker to the triangular structures nearby. “I will take care of them, if you think you will be fine on your own?” 

Loki tilted his head in annoyance. “I don’t need a babysitter, Thor. I’m fifteen hundred years old.” 

Thor smiled at him. “Good luck.” He launched his hammer into the sky and soared off with it. 

Loki slashed and spun for minutes that felt like hours. Each one that he killed was replaced by two more. Their numbers were outrageous. Despite the fact that he could see Thor smashing his way through each of the ships, he couldn’t help but think,  _ Can’t you hurry it up a bit? The more of those things come spilling out of those ships, the harder it will be for all the people who can’t fly.  _

A bladed disc came whizzing by and Loki rolled out of its way, letting it cut into the outriders instead. This was beginning to feel like an endless battle. Mind games Loki could play, but real battle was something he had never been a fan of. His new clothes were already irreparably stained with blood and his helmet had been lost after he’d used the horns to stab one of them, likely never to be found again. 

He turned around to gut another outrider, but stopped himself when he realized it was a human. The man was dressed in some kind of black and purple cat suit. He was unfamiliar, but he radiated authority.  _ Not over me, though _ , Loki thought pridefully. 

“Get your brother,” the man said hurriedly. “Thanos is here.” He pointed to a patch of trees on the mountainside. 

“ _ Here _ , here?” Loki asked. 

“I must go and help,” the man said instead of an answer. “Get your brother! He is the only one who can stop him.” The cat man then went running off at inhuman speed, jumping over outriders like hurdles. 

Loki took a few breaths and thought hard. These humans were definitely foolish enough to try to take Thanos on hand-to-hand. If Thanos was coming here, that meant he likely already had all the other stones. The Guardians must have failed to keep the Reality and Space Stones hidden. Loki cursed. “Whatever! It’s fine! I’ll just fix this myself.” 

He set off to get Thor’s attention and, hopefully, to think of a killer plan in the next few seconds. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When everything seems lost, the Odinsons swoop in at the very last second. Whether they save the day or not is yet to be seen.

Thanos held the humanoid machine in the air, his hand wrapped around what could be called its throat. He dug his fat fingers into Vision’s forehead and wrapped them around the stone. He was so close. _So close._

He tugged lightly. The stone was already partially removed from Vision’s body, so the wires snapped easily. The metal cracked around where the stone used to be, but Thanos pulled it until it came completely out. He tossed the useless hunk of metal and tissue, now dead, to the side. 

After examining the stone for a minute, he lowered it slowly to his left hand. He could feel the pull of the stones, each one wanting to be together with all its siblings. When the Mind Stone finally found its place in the Gauntlet, the energy of the combined stones ripped through Thanos’ arm like a tsunami. All at once he saw colors that he didn’t even know existed, and his veins glowed with power. He grunted and cried under the force of their combined might. 

However, before he could gloat in his victory, a thick bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and sent him flying. It ripped through his muscles and up his spine, so white-hot it felt cold. 

Thanos looked to the sky and saw none other than Thor Odinson, complete with a new outfit and weapon, hurtling through the sky right for him. The Asgardian raised his axe over his head and flung it, sending it spinning in Thanos’ direction. 

Thanos thrust his hand out, sending a beam of the stones’ power to halt the axe. To his surprise, however, Stormbreaker cut right through the stones’ laser and crashed… right into Thanos’ chest with a burst of light. 

At first, the pain didn’t register. He felt the metal blade slice through his armor and into his ribs, but he felt nothing. Perhaps it was the adrenaline. Perhaps it was the stones. Either way, Thanos simply put his hand to the axe in shock. 

Thor landed in front of the titan, rage in his eyes. He cupped Thanos’ cheek, gently almost. “I told you that you would die for that.” Thanos wondered why he was being so gentle. 

He didn’t wonder for long. Thor put the heel of his hand to the flat of the axe and pushed. That’s when the real pain kicked in. Thanos screamed as he felt every vein in his chest pop open. 

But he wasn’t defeated yet. 

“Y… y-” His words slurred together, his mind blurred by pain. “Sh-sh…” 

Thor looked at the titan with confusion, waiting for him to finish his sentence. 

“You should have  _ gone for the head _ ,” Thanos finally spat out. He smiled in victory and raised his left hand. 

But the Odinson’s single eye did not show any of the fear or regret or realization Thanos had expected. What was that… was that… triumph? Amusement?

Then, Thanos felt a soft, delicate hand on the back of his neck. “We did,” said a soft voice. He didn’t need to turn around to realize that the younger Odinson, Loki, had appeared behind him from thin air. 

Loki spun one of his small blades in his hand before plunging it into the base of the titan’s skull. 

Thanos didn’t scream this time. He simply exhaled softly and fell limp. His eyes glazed over and his muscles gave out. Thor let go of him and pulled the axe out of his chest, letting the body crash to the ground. He smiled at Loki. 

“You did it, brother,” he said happily. "You did it, you really did it!” He strode forward and enveloped Loki in a tight hug. “You needed no special weapon. We won today because of you.” 

Loki, despite himself, smiled back at Thor. Not a mischievous smile, or a devious one, or even a wistful one. Just a happy, victorious smile that shone like the sun. Thor didn’t think he’d ever seen Loki smile like that before. 

Some of the other Avengers who had been knocked unconscious were stirring. Steve in particular was awake already, and he looked at Thanos’ body in disgust. 

“So,” he said. “It’s over.” 

“No thanks to you,” Loki said smugly, back to his usual better-than-everyone self. 

“Steve.” Thor held out a hand to help his friend up. “We’re safe now. Loki killed him.” 

Steve looked at Loki. A few years ago, if someone had told him that Loki would be the one to eventually do Thanos in, he would have punched them in the face for being Loki in disguise. However, true to what Thor had said, Loki’s knife was coated in thick purple blood. 

Steve held out his hand to Loki. “Thank you.” 

Loki looked at Steve’s hand for a minute before taking it and shaking it. 

A spinning circle of orange sparks opened into a circular portal a few feet away. Tony Stark stepped through, looking anxious. “The Doc said that Thanos was dead, who here can attest to that?” he asked, swivelling his head around. His eyes landed on Loki. “What the hell is he doing back here?” 

Dr. Strange stepped around Tony and held a hand up for the man to calm down. “It’s fine, Stark. Loki and Thor are the ones who did it.” 

Tony glanced at the dead titan. “Yeah, alright, why not. I’ve seen enough today to believe it.” 

“Stark!” Thor exclaimed. “You live! I feared when we did not see you here you may have already perished.” 

Loki sighed wistfully. “If only the All-Fathers had been so kind.” 

Peter Quill stepped through the portal next, the rest of the Guardians behind him. “Did we win?” 

Loki pointed the knife at him. “Exactly how soon after we gave you the stone did you lose it?” 

Quill held his hands up in surrender. “Don’t point fingers, you have it to us in the first place!” 

A small boy peeked out from behind Tony. “Mr. Thor?” 

Thor leaned to get a better look at the child. “Who is this?” He looked at Tony. “Did you have a child already? I wasn’t gone for that long-” 

“Oh, no!” Stark’s child said hurriedly. “No, Mr. Stark is just my employer! I’m uh, I’m Peter, great to meet you, Mr. Thor, wow, this is really exciting-” 

Thor pat the child on the back. “Great to meet you too, Starkson. Unfortunately, my brother and I have finished our business here on Earth and we must return to space to seek out the rest of my people.” 

“O-Oh,” Peter said timidly. “Yeah, okay.” 

Loki crouched down and wrapped his fingers around the Gauntlet, tugging harshly. The glove slid off Thanos’ dead hand easily. It was heavy, and as big as Loki’s whole arm, but he lifted it easily and brought it over to Dr. Strange. “Make no mistake,” he said. “I still don’t like you. And I still intend to exact my revenge in some horrific way that you’ll never see coming.” He handed the Gauntlet over to the sorcerer, who took it into his own arms with some effort. “But I have the feeling you and your kind can protect these stones well.” 

Dr. Strange nodded at him. “Thank you. I understand you probably want to take them for yourself, so good on you for giving them up.” 

Loki looked down at the six stones, each gleaming with its own power. All six could make him the mightiest being in the universe and beyond. “I don’t need them,” he said finally. 

Thor and Loki left the other Avengers and Guardians and heroes to sort themselves out. Thor put an arm around Loki’s shoulders as they walked away. “You really are something spectacular, Loki,” he mused. 

Loki swatted Thor’s arm away before facing him. “Why are you so good to me, Thor?” he asked seriously. 

“What?” Thor turned to his brother. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve done terrible things, Thor. To you, to your friends, to people you don’t even know. And yet, you always forgive me, time and time again. I don’t deserve it. So why do you do it?” 

Thor examined Loki for a minute, trying to read his face. “Because you’re my brother, and I love you,” he said, as if it should have been obvious. “Because everyone deserves love, especially you. You are a better person than you give yourself credit for, Loki. You don’t see that yet, but someday you will. Until then, I will see it for you.” Thor smiled. “Now, let’s go track down our people, shall we?” 

Loki smiled. “I know just the way to do it.” He held out his hand and the air rippled, revealing a shining blue gem. 

Thor patted him on the back, laughing. “I knew you would never just hand it over.” 

Thor and Loki disappeared through a blue-black hole in space. Did they hunt down the remaining Asgardians? Did they return to Nidavellir and forge Loki some knives? Who knows. Either way, the brothers were together. Everything was better when they were together. And they would never be separated again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the end. Thanos is dead and Endgame never happened, I assume Tony went on to have Morgan with Pepper and Peter was allowed to just keep going to school and they rebuilt Vision and everyone is happy now. Hooray! I fixed the MCU guys! Gamora is still dead but I'm sure they can use the Time Stone to bring her back. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading and hopefully you enjoyed.


End file.
